Car-brake mechanism



(No Model.)

I. w. GHAPPEEQ Oar Brake Mechanism.

No. 231,271. Patented Aug. 17, I880.

\ NJEI'ERS, PHOTO-LITHDGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. 0.6.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK W. GHAFFEE, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-BRAKE MECHANISM.

SPEOIEIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,271, dated August17, 1880.

Application filed May 15, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. OHAFFEE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inOar-Brake-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates principally to that class of brake-operatingdevices used on freightcars, and the object thereof is to provide animproved brake-lever frame to support and cooperate with a brake-leverto a railway-car, located on the roof of the car and adapted to operatea chain connected with the brakes beneath said car.

I attain the above-named objects by the construction and devicesillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aportion of one end of a freightcar upon which are shown my improvedbrakeoperating devices. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of said devicesdetached from the car.

Like letters refer to like parts in the several figures.

A is the end portion of a longitudinal halfsection of a car, and B isthe usual foot-board running from end to end thereof. D is thebrake-lever frame, constructed preferably of metal, and consisting oftwo semicircular portions, on b, provided with a suitable base,substantially as shown, consisting of two horizontal bars, 0 c, and twoend flanges, d d, and in one of flanges d is located an elastic cushion,i. The semicircular portions to b and the horizontal bars 0 c areseparated from each other sufficiently to permit of operating abrakelever, h, between them. Said brake-lever is pivoted between thehorizontal bars 0 c, centrally between the end flanges, cl d, as shown,by its lower end, and is provided with a chainstrap, 0, pivoted to it,as shown, just above its fulcrum-point 00.

One of the semicircular portions, b, is provided with a ratchet-plate,n, secured flatly thereupon and having its ratchet-teeth formed in theedge thereof next to lever h, and projeoting somewhat into the openingbetween the portions to and b and beyond the inner face of the part 1).Instead of adapting the part b to have the ratchet-plate n securedwto itas a separate piece, said part b may be made with (No model.)

the ratchet-teeth formed upon it, as described; but the best practicalends are served by making said plate of steel and securing it to thebrake-frame, as shown and described.

The ratchet-teeth on the edge of plate 11 are out under somewhat, forpurposes hereinafter described. That part of lever h which in swingingupon its pivot moves before the ratchet-teeth on plate 11. is providedwith an outwardly-projecting lip, 1", adapted to engage firmly andsurely with the teeth on plate n.

Lever h is pivoted somewhat loosely between the bars 0 0, so as to allowof a certain degree of lateral play between the edge of the teeth onplate a and the inner face of the semicir-i cular portion a, so thatwhen lever h swings against the said face of the latter the edge of lipr swings clear of the ends of said teeth; but said lever may be so muchinclined toward the inner face of the semicircular portion 1) as tocause lip r to firmly engage with said teeth.

The above-described brake-lever frame D and brake-lever, constructed andarranged as above described, I bolt firmly to the roof of car A, to oneside of the foot-board B, as shown in Fig. 1, and I attach thebrake-chain s to the pivoted strap 0 on lever h, running it from thencethrough a roller-block, c, at the end of the car, and thence downward,attaching a hooked rod, t, to the end of it, to the lower end of whichis hooked a chain, as shown, which runs over a roller-block, c andthence to the brake-shoe frame under the car.

In case of excessive wear of the brake-shoes or other parts, whereby theconnection between lever h and the brake-shoe frame would need to beshortened to cause the brake to operate properly, when lever h is aboutin the position seen in Fig. 2, chain 8, or the lower chain, may beshortened link by link, by means of the hooks on either end of rod t.

The operation of my brake devices is as follows, viz: The brakeman, inapplying the brakes, simply grasps the upper end of lever h and draws itfrom the end of the car, causing lip r on said lever to slide over theendsof the ratchet-teeth on plate n, bringing said lever over to aboutthe position shown in Fig.2, or far enough to cause the brakes to cometo a firm bearing against the wheels operated by the chain-and-rodconnectionabove described.

The most advantageous and the proper position for lever I: to stand inwhen the brakes are free is about that shown in Fig. 1, as it can thenbe most quickly operated in case of emergency, although it may be leftlying down, with its end toward the end of the car; but when its end islifted up aml the lever begins to draw the brakes againstthe car-wheelsit should be so adjusted as to begin to draw on chain a when said leverpasses a perpendicular position. It will be seen now that as lever h ismoved in the direction seen in Fig. 2 its leverage is constantlyincreasing, by reason of the gradual approach of the point on lever h,where the chain .s' is attached to it by strap 0, t0 the same plane ofthe lever-fulcrum at .r, and thus the lever-power increases as thepressure of the brakes 'upon the wheels becomes greater, and aconsiderably greater bralw-force can be effectively brought to bear froma like expenditure of power than can be obtained by the use of theordinary wheel and shaft.

When lever Ii has been carriedover,asabove described, so astobringthebrakes snfliciently firm against the wheels, it is carried laterallyagainst the teeth on plate 01, causing lip r on lever h to engage withsaid teeth and hold the lever and the brakes in a set position.

When it becomes necessary todisengagethe brakes lever I: is suddenlydriven sidewise toward the portion a of the frame. clearing lip r fromsaid teeth and allowing the strain upon the brake-chain to draw saidlever freely toward the end of the car, and in swingingover it strikesagainst the elastic cushion i, and comes to a position of rest, and fromthat position the brakeman may, at his leisure, set it up to about theposition shown in Fig. 1,1-eady for quickly applying the brakes again.As before remarked, the teeth on plate :1 are somewhat out under, andthe shape of the edge of lip r is made to conform to suchaformation ofthe teeth, so that when leverh is resting in the position shown in Fig.1, the jar and tremble of the moving car will not disengage the leverfrom the teeth, and when the lever has the strain of the brake-chainupon it it will not accidentally become disengaged.

It will be seen that it is nearly if not quite impossible for any injuryto result to the brakeman in case of the breakage of any of thebrake-operating devices just described, whereas frequent and seriousaccidents result from the sudden breakage of eitherthe brake-wheel, rod,or chain in common use, causing the operator to be precipitated betweenthe cars or upon the ground. In operating my devices, the result of anybreakage caused by the action of the brakeman upon lever h would be tocause him to be thrown away from the end of the car and upon the roof ofit, and one single quick motion of the lever applies the brakeseffectually.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent. is

The combination, with the brakes and brakechains of a railway-car, ofthe frame D, cousistin g of the semicircular portion a, the semicircularportion b, provided with the ratchetplate a, the two base-bars c c,united at their ends by the flanges d d, one of which is provided withan elastic cushion, i, of the lever h, provided with the lip r, and thechain-strap o, pivoted between said bars 0 c, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

FRANK W. CHAFFEE.

In presence of WM. H. GHAPIN, B. F. ADAMS.

